FROM the PRESIDENT
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Hello fellow bowhunters. The past few months have just flown by. At the time of writing this message it is just under a week before the start of the 9-day firearm deer season. My hunting experiences this year, as far as seeing deer while bowhunting, have not been all that great. I have seen a couple does and fawns, and just two small bucks. On the plus side, this fall has been some of the most comfortable weather that I can remember for hunting. I have had some enjoyable times in the tree, seeing and hearing what God’s great outdoors has on display here in Wisconsin’s north woods.
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Lately, almost every day I have been in contact by phone with either Julie at the office, your Vice President, Greg Prince or District 3 Director, Ken Rimer. All these calls pertain to the upcoming convention and the next issue of THE Bowhunter magazine. For those of you who are not aware, our upcoming WBH Membership Convention will be WBH’s 85th anniversary. The convention committee and others involved are in the process of making this convention ‘the place to be’ on Saturday, March 7, 2026. The convention will be held at the Holiday Inn in Stevens Point. The plan is to start Saturday off with the annual WBH membership meeting. The vendor hall will be open with hopefully 20 plus vendors. Some vendors may be setting up in the hallway this year to accommodate the additional number. This year’s major convention raffle will be a turkey blind mystery raffle, including the blind and a bunch of ‘mystery’ items inside. It will most definitely be worthwhile to buy tickets for a chance to see what is inside of the turkey tent if you are the lucky winner! As in past years we will also have a good variety of bucket raffle items to buy tickets for, a silent auction during the day, plus Plinko and Spin-to-Win. All the monies from these activities go to support convention costs and WBH operations.
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Our featured speaker this year will be Art Helin, Hoyt pro staffer. Art is a resident of Wisconsin. At this time, I would like to thank Greg Prince, who lines up our guest speaker each year. I would also like to acknowledge Hoyt Archery for their corporate sponsorship of WBH. Because of their corporate support WBH has access to their pro staff at a very reduced cost. Art will speak at the annual awards banquet and will also be one of our seminar speakers. In addition to Art, there will be 3 other seminars. These seminars will include John Lappan – Cooking Wild Game, Ron Kulas – Sharpening Broadheads and Steve Burns – WDNR Deer Biologist. The seminars will begin after the business meeting concludes.
On Saturday evening, at the WBH Awards Banquet, we will once again auction off a commemorative convention arrow. We will also hold a live auction to finish off the bidding for an African Hunt. There will be a silent auction as well as the chance to buy tickets for a firearm raffle.
WBH will have a few 85th anniversary commemorative items for sale, including 85th anniversary clothing, available before and during the convention. For sale at the convention only will be 85th anniversary drink glasses (only 100 available) and 85th anniversary coins (only 75 available). The first 175 WBH members who sign up for the awards banquet will be given a free 85th anniversary arrow pen. A big thank you goes out to Wade Jeske from Lena Swamp for donating a good portion of the cost for these pens, and for putting them together.
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It was brought to my attention by a WBH board member that one of our directors has spent more than half of his life dedicated to supporting and donating time to WBH. Wright Allen was elected to the board by WBH members present at the 1980 WBH Annual Membership meeting. Whenever asked, Wright lends his expertise or muscle wholeheartedly. He has over the years served in many capacities on the board, including serving on many committees and testifying in Madison or elsewhere in support of WBH’s interests. Wright was also WBH President for a good many years. Thank you, Wright, for your dedication to WBH. On behalf of WBH, I would also like to thank Wright’s wife Shirley for all the help and support she has given Wright; and for all the sacrifices she has made because of Wright’s love for WBH.
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As in past messages, either written by me or past presidents, I want to reiterate the need for new members to be brought into our ranks. If you have a friend or relative who bowhunts, encourage them to join WBH. Tell them about the benefits you receive from WBH and how WBH protects our sport of hunting with vertical archery equipment every day, every week, and every year. I personally am going to try to sign up or pay for one new member each month. WBH needs members so that when we talk to the WDNR, or in Madison in front of legislators we can inform them that we represent a large number of the bowhunting community. WBH has members on 7 WDNR committees that deal with hunting game with vertical bows here in Wisconsin. For any current members, please also consider running for a board position in your district. WBH has several open positions in some districts. Your nomination for election to the board can be submitted in advance, or you may be nominated from the floor at the annual business meeting.
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In closing I pray that all members had a great fall hunting season, whether it was in state or out of state. Remember, sometimes you cannot measure the value of a hunt by your success, but by what you learned during the hunt, or by something you may have experienced during the hunt. I also pray that a few lucky folks who bought tickets for the calendar raffle were able to spend some of the cash on more stuff to hunt with. We all need more hunting stuff!
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Last of all I pray that a good number of you will plan on attending WBH’s 85th Annual Convention, Saturday, March 7th in Stevens Point at the Holiday Inn.
Thank You
God Bless
Richard Kirchmeyer
President WBH